


A Lifetime in One Room

by RavenpuffLove



Series: The Art of Transfiguration [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, BAMF Minerva McGonagall, Education, Mild Sexual Content, Morally Ambiguous Dumbledore, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:20:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22796197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenpuffLove/pseuds/RavenpuffLove
Summary: A collection of important moments in Minerva McGonagall's educational career, all of which take place in the Hogwart's Head's office.
Relationships: Aberforth Dumbledore/Minerva McGonagall
Series: The Art of Transfiguration [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831810
Comments: 12
Kudos: 29
Collections: Love Fest 2020





	A Lifetime in One Room

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Charlie9646](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie9646/gifts).



**July 1958**

Minerva hadn't often been to the Headmaster's office when she was a student; Not that she didn't get into a fair amount of mischief, she just hadn't gotten caught. That would have been sloppy. 

On the one occasion she could remember being in Armando Dippett's office it hadn't been a very pleasant or interesting place. There hadn't been anywhere for a visitor to sit and half the room seemed to be taken up by the massive, self-important desk he'd procured for himself.   
  
Albus Dumbledore's office was entirely different. Just like it had been when he was her Transfiguration professor and Head of House, his office as Headmaster was a riot of noise and color, every surface glinting with strange metallic objects whose purpose Minerva could only guess at. Several plush velvet armchairs sat on the near desk in the center of the room. 

“ Come in, come in, sit,” Headmaster Dumbledore said from his chair, summoning a sheet of paper from the piles on his desk that could only be her credentials as she caught a glimpse of the tartan border she'd had emblazoned at the top. “ McGonagall is it? I had a student by that name almost a decade ago, extraordinary transfigurist, are you related to Mister-” 

“ Actually that would be me that you're thinking of, Headmaster.” Minerva interrupted, smoothing her robes neatly over her lap as she sat down. “ It's been Minerva for almost seven years now.” 

“ Ah! Just as your resume says. Forgive me any confusion.” He said with a bright smile, not lingering on his gaffe or the revelation. “ Well we are lucky to have received your application for the position I'm sure! You were quiet talented in the subject even at a young age. I confess I was disappointed to never receive a request for apprenticeship from you.” 

“ I decided to spend several years on the continent when I was finished here at Hogwarts. That's all there in my credentials. I apprenticed with Master Aamodt in Bergen, and then I worked for the Norwegian Ministry in their equivalent to the department of mysteries, though they don't require any vows of silence there, which if you ask me is the right idea. People have a right to understand what theoretical work is being explored.” 

“ Quite right,” He agreed, one hand fidgeting with the end of his beard. “ One should always save secrecy for when it can't be helped. Since you aren't bound by a vow, what did you work on in Oslo?” 

“ Mostly on the melding of living matter to stone and metal, while maintaining the life-force.” 

“ That could be quite useful.” 

“ Yes. A stone or metal sentry can stand guard for hundreds of years, energy from the original organism stored in the creation waiting to be activated.” Minerva replied, already thinking of the dozens of statues and suits of armor in the castle that could be imbued with life-force. “ Though they become lifeless quickly if used too often.” 

“ I imagine so. It seems as if you enjoyed your work in Norway; what made you want to come home?” 

She'd been dreading this question. Everyone asked it and she was so tired of having so many people interested in her private affairs after years with no one to answer to at all. 

“ I'm recently widowed. I married during my apprenticeship. He was a muggle and got in a car accident on his way to work one morning.” Minerva pursed her lips to stifle the tremble that crept in as she though about her late husband. “ I didn't have anything to hold me in the country after that. I wanted to be near my mother, she's getting older, and frankly I missed the food.” 

“ My condolences for your loss, Minerva.” 

“ Thank you.” 

The silence seemed interminable but likely only lasted a few minutes as the headmaster looked blankly at her resume before finally asking:

“ What draws you to this position? Surely you had other options? I am not so proud that I can't recognize our pay is not outstanding.” 

“ I enjoyed research but I miss working with people.” Minerva replied, happy it was an easy question to answer. “ More than that, I want a chance to apply and pass on my knowledge. I believe we owe a debt to the generations that come after us and that debt can only be paid through extending guidance and support.” 

“ That is a lovely sentiment, Minerva. I think that you would fit in well with the staff here. You might remember Pomona Sprout? She was in a younger year when you were here at school and is now our Herbology professor, so you won't be terribly younger than the rest of the staff and you are clearly interested in education. I do have one last request for you though.” 

“ Of course,” She replied, steeling herself for an unpleasant and probing question. “ What do you need from me?” 

“ Demonstrate your mastery project for me.” the Headmaster said, a familiar twinkle in his eye. 

Minerva let a wide grin cross her face as she stood and fluidly assumed her animagus form, a lithe silver tabby cat with dark markings that coalesced around the eyes to resemble her horn-rimmed spectacles. 

“ You must promise me that you will use that on the students on your first day.” Dumbledore said with a laugh as she returned to her standard form and returned to her seat, still unable to wipe the grin from her face. “ You'll be the most respected teacher in the school in an instant.” 

**February 1976**

Minerva settled primly on the newly conjured chair that completed the semi-circle in front of the Headmaster's desk, flanked on either side by an angry young man. 

“ Albus, I don't understand why we are even having this conversation with Mr. Snape and Mr. Lupin when the young man responsible, Mr. Black, is serving detention with Mr. Filch. I hardly think that is an appropriate response to what he's done!” 

“ Minerva, we are having this conversation about what can be done for the school to make amends with the two young men who have been victimized in the incident. Don't you think they deserve a hand in how the situation is handled?” Albus said calmly, as one might talk to a half-feral cat you were trying to bring in out of the cold. “ Slughorn can't be involved because he doesn't know about Mr. Lupin's condition and Madame Pomfrey refuses to prioritize either of her two favorite patients.” 

The two young men in the room likely did make up the majority of Poppy's work, Minerva thought to herself, assuming Mr. Potter made up a significant amount of the rest. 

“ Mr. Snape has already made it exceedingly clear that he wishes to have Mr. Black expelled.” Minerva replied sternly, not able to bring herself to disagree with the young man despite Sirius being one of her favorite students. He'd gone too far this time.

“ Mr. Black was disowned by his parents over the holidays and has no home to which he may return.” The Headmaster almost whispered, his gaze locked on Minerva's. “ I cannot in good conscience turn him out onto the street. Particularly not when I know he committed the act in part to protect Mr. Lupin because he knows that Mr. Snape is funneling information to an organization that poses deadly risks to a significant portion of the castle.” 

That was it then. Albus couldn't bring himself to discipline a student for lashing out at one of Lord Voldemort's followers. It was the same fight over and over again. He believed that the Ministry couldn't be trusted with the fight and condoned vigilantism as a tool to deter further swelling of the other side's ranks. Even when it almost made a murderer of a promising young man trying desperately to break with family tradition and a young man who never asked for the monster that broke through his skin once a month. Even when it almost killed a young man who she couldn't quite believe was beyond saving. 

“ He has no proof!” Snape snapped, an ugly sneer marring his face. 

“ I don't feel protected. I feel more vulnerable than ever.” Lupin added, seemingly unable to face anyone. “ Like I'm dangerous.” 

“ You are dangerous!” Snape replied, voice booming sharply with emotion, giving a brief, frightening glance of the intimidating man he was quickly becoming. “ I could have died. You would have killed me if Potter hadn't found out about Black's plans.” 

“ I wouldn't have been dangerous if you hadn't been snooping around me like some pervert!” Lupin hissed, tears streaking his face as he whipped his head up. 

Minerva could see now what Albus was trying to accomplish. These two were more alike than anyone might have given them credit for, terrified young men barely out of childhood and on the brink of true danger. He wanted to help them find common ground, turn this moment of enmity into something that could unite them, even if it was just long enough to keep them from killing someone on school grounds. 

“ What most bothers you about what happened?” Minerva asked, letting her voice settle into the sharpness that commanded her classroom. 

“ That I can't do anything to make myself less dangerous.” Lupin said, looking up at her pleadingly, somehow still looking like the little boy who she'd worried over first year yet also aged beyond his years with guilt. “ I don't want this to happen again.” 

“ That I almost died and no one seems to care!” Snape almost screamed, outrage plain on his face. 

“ Mr. Snape.” Minerva held up a hand to stop the both of them speaking. “ I believe that you are particularly gifted with Potions?” 

“ I am.” She would have expected him to sound smug but he didn't, there was no ego in his response. Just confidence.

“ Mr. Lupin, Have either of your parents discussed with you the new experimental potion that has shown success at containing the wolf's violent impulses on the full moon?” 

She tried to ignore the fear on his face that confirmed he certainly had. The so called Wolfsbane potion had only recently been perfected and the attempts to test it had resulted in several maulings and one death before they had found a more universally effective recipe and dosage. There were still risks. Loss of appetite, weakened immune system. 

“ My mother has.” He whispered. “ She couldn't afford to find a potion master to attempt to brew it for me.” 

“ If the Headmaster agrees,” Minerva began, shifting in her seat so she could gauge Albus's reaction. “I believe that the two of you should undertake attempts to brew this potion every month for your remaining years at Hogwarts. It will make you both feel safer, and it will give Mr. Snape the added benefit of Misters Lupin, Black, Potter, and Pettigrew having a vested interest in his continuing education.” 

Minerva waited patiently as the two men sat each hunched in on himself in his chair and deep in thought, Albus's infernal collection of devices ticking and whirring in the background. They might not be agree for the same reasons, in fact Minerva imagined that they likely wouldn't be. They both would want to feel safer, but Remus would just be desperate for the constant fighting to be over, and Severus, Severus would be tempted by the knowledge. The why's didn't matter in the end though, Minerva could see their eyes shifting towards the other as they considered the possibilities, inching closer to agreement until Severus broke the tension, meeting Minerva's eyes and then shifting his gaze to the headmaster and giving single sharp nod. Remus's agreement followed soon after, his head bobbing up and down rapidly.

“ See this is why I called you in, Minerva.” The headmaster said as he drew his wand to seal their agreement with a binding oath. “ You have a talent for transforming a situation from a calamity into an opportunity for a mutually beneficial arrangement.” 

**October 1989**

“ Miss Tonks, Albus,” Minerva nodded her head to her student and employer in turn before turning to the stranger in the room. “ Sorry, Sir, I know that you own the Hog's Head but I've always used the Three Broomsticks and I find I don't know your name.” 

“ Minerva this is my brother, Aberforth.” The headmaster said, inclining his head to the man standing so far from the desk he was almost pressed against the stone wall. 

Now that it had been pointed out to her Minerva did suppose that the two men did share a resemblance, even if Aberforth was noticeably younger and a good-deal stranger looking than his big brother. Which was quite a feat when the brother in question insisted on tucking his own beard into his belt. It wasn't a bad kind of strange though. Minerva liked that his robes looked worn in and the wildness that lingered around his piercing blue eyes. 

“ Nice to make your acquaintance, Mr. Dumbledore.” She said, offering him her hand to shake.

“ You can call me Aberforth, Mr. Dumbledore's across the desk here but I think he prefers to be called Headmaster.” He replied, taking her hand and bending to place a dry kiss on the back of her knuckles, his wiry beard tickling between her fingers. 

“ Aberforth it is.” Minerva said brusquely, turning to the headmaster and hoping her face wasn't as pink as it felt. “ Albus, I confess I don't understand why I am here. Miss Tonks isn't one of mine.” 

“ Professor Sprout is indisposed by a particularly dangerous accident with a venomous tentacula and cannot leave greenhouse three at present. I thought the nature of Miss Tonk's indiscretion made you an apt second choice.” Albus said, suddenly looking as uncomfortable as Minerva felt. 

“ What is it you've done, Miss Tonks?” She asked, hoping with all her heart it wasn't for something sexual. Just because she was a woman didn't mean she was any better equipped to deal with the consequences of raging teenage hormones than the rest of the staff. 

“ The girl came into my pub with her face all stretched out to look like someone else and ordered herself a double fire whiskey and started chatting up a bloke at the bar who had to have a decade on her if he had a day. I wouldn't have caught her at all if it hadn't been for her cloak slipping and showing her hair turning pink. I remembered seeing her hair changing like that last Hogwarts weekend when she met up in the pub with the big Weasley lad.” 

Minerva cast the handy muffling spell that Severus had taught her when he had to stomp into her class to report one of the newest Weasley's troublemaking in his potions class and sat down in the seat next to the young girl. 

“ You have to know that sneaking out of the castle for a midday drink and chatting up a stranger wasn't appropriate, Miss Tonks. I remember your mother and father and I am certain they raised you better.” 

“ I know.” 

“ Then please, explain yourself.” 

“ It's Charlie,” Tonks finally said, her eyes brimming as she unburdened herself. “ He's going off to a dragon reserve in Romania and leaving me here all alone. I don't like any of the boys my age, not even as friends. And the girls don't like me because they think I make myself prettier. Which is funny because if I could do that all the time you'd think I would pick a better mug than this one for my every day.” 

Minerva's first instinct was to reassure the girl that she shouldn't feel unattractive, but after a moment to consider she saw exactly what the girl meant. She had a smattering of acne and a scrape on her chin. Her dark eyebrows didn't were thick and a bit unkempt. Her nose had clearly been broken more than once judging by the bump in the middle. She was pretty enough but she was also right , there was nothing about her face that should be stoking the vicious rumours among the other girls. 

“ So you were just lonely.” 

“ It's not that I'm lonely so much as I just wanted to have a conversation about something interesting. To have something to do other than school work. I'm a Hufflepuff, it's hard to get lonely in our commonroom, but I feel so bad because it's not that my housemates aren't nice people but . . .” The girl's voice trailed off, her eyes turned pleadingly to Minerva as she looked for some understanding. 

“ You just don't fit in.” 

“ Exactly.” She replied, fidgeting out to the edge of her seat. “ I really believe in hard work and in accepting everyone, maybe more than anything else, but I'm not patient. Sometimes I think I got sorted wrong. Maybe I should've been in Gryffindor instead.” 

“ You'd have broken every bone in your body by now if you'd been sorted into Gryffindor Miss Tonks.” Minerva remarked, chuckling to herself at the memory of finding the girl with an arm of all things stuck in the trip step on the grand stair. She couldn't imagine such a girl doing well in a house that pushed her further towards risk taking. She was reckless enough as it was.“ We aren't all as kind as your friend Mr. Weasley. I think you'd find the level of infighting exhausting. You were sorted well, and you haven't changed that much since you were eleven. Do you mind if I take down the muffling spell now?” 

The young woman nodded, shooting a guilty look towards the headmaster. 

“ I just feel restless. Like I'm going to jump out of my skin.” 

“ You just need something to occupy your time, until you figure out someone more appropriate to befriend.” Minerva assured her warmly, a faint pang in her chest as she remembered what it was like to be that age and never quite feel like you belonged. “ I'd encourage Albus to make you a prefect but we both know you are too much of a troublemaker for that.” 

“ How do you know it wasn't Charlie dragging me into it?” Tonks said, hand raised to her chest in mock girlish offense.

They both laughed at the thought of gentle Charlie Weasley being behind half of the stunts they'd been involved with. The boy was possibly the sweetest Gryffindor ever born, his worst qualities were an absolutely filthy mouth and a penchant for trying to take in every stray he saw. No, he would never conceive of sneaking an entire astronomy class out of the castle to attend a muggle rock show or have thought to have Miss Tonks pretend to be Snape dragging him to a detention so that they could sneak into the empty Slytherin common room and get a better look into the lake. 

“ Okay, okay.” The girl admitted. “ I'm not prefect material.” 

“ What is your best subject Miss Tonks.” 

“ Defense against the Dark Arts probably.” She replied after a moment of thought. “ Charms if you think about that seriously since that's about all we learn in that class besides that bloke last year who taught us muggle fighting, which I was rubbish at.” 

Minerva had to think for a moment. It wasn't an easy set of skills to manage. Potioneers could be set to testing recent discoveries. Transfigurists she could push towards the schools social committees that helped Albus keep the castle seasonally cheerful. Students with an affinity to plants could join the Botanical Society, the creature lovers could join Hagrid in his efforts to map the forest. 

Tonks' skills seemed to mirror her older cousin so fiercely that it made Minerva wistful for the days her four favorite Gryffindors had been around to keep her on her toes. Even if it had all ended rather so awfully that she wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that Tonks never seemed to find her own group of friends outside of Charlie Weasley. 

“ Here is what is going to happen.” Minerva finally said, a memory of Severus and her boys caught mid-duel in the hallway sparking an idea. “ You are going to get punished because you are an outrageous hooligan and I can't have you getting away with it. You've got to stop sneaking off grounds and you shouldn't be flirting with wizards nearly old enough to be your father.” 

“ I know.” The young witch said quietly, a wide grin breaking across her face. “ He was cute though, Professor. Big, sad eyes, I can't resist them.” 

“ Be that as it may, Miss Tonks.” Minerva continued, determined to ignore the girl's cheek. “ I am giving you two weeks of nightly detention. Even the weekends. You can serve them all with Pomona. Perhaps exhausting yourself in the greenhouses will help calm that restlessness. I'm also tasking you with restarting the Hogwarts Dueling Club. We haven't had one in several years. I'm sure you could find some interested students. I will serve as one sponsor, you'll need a second. I suggest you ask Professor Snape, he is an excellent duelist.” 

“ That seems more than reasonable.” Albus confirmed, gesturing towards the stairwell. “ You are free to go Miss Tonks. Don't be late to your next class.” 

“ Yes, Sir.” She said cheerily, bounding towards the exit with such speed Minerva genuinely feared for her life on the narrow, winding stairs. 

“ I'm sorry for any trouble she caused you, Aberforth.” Minerva explained after she was sure the girl was out of earshot. “ Her best friend is leaving Hogwarts this year and she just found out he is taking a job in Romania. She's acting out but we will set her right.” 

“ I appreciate you not going to hard on her.” The barkeep said, looking genuinely relieved as he took a seat in the recently vacated chair. “ I try to just let kids be kids and get into trouble, but that bloke was going to try and take her upstairs, and she looked like she was going to let him. Once I realized she was a student it had me worried.” 

“ It should worry you.” She assured him, still feeling a little worried herself at how close the girl had come to a situation she truly couldn't have been prepared for but still feeling a tight grin tug at the corners of her mouth as she imagined the girl trying to get up to any further trouble with out exhausted she was soon to be. “Besides, part of being a child and getting into trouble is learning it has consequences. That's where I get to have my fun.” 

“ I like a woman with a vindictive streak.” Aberforth replied, shooting her a wink that tightened something low in her stomach and pinked her cheeks. 

“ Unfortunately nature calls,” Albus announced awkwardly, drawing her attention to his smug expression as he glanced between the two of them. “ But the two of you are welcome to continue your conversation if you like.” 

“ Not in here with all your whirligigs going, I'm sure one of them can hear me, or the portraits.” Aberforth scoffed, getting quickly to his feet and offering Minerva his hand. “ But if you're free I'd be happy to pour you one down at the Head, Professor.” 

“ You can call me Minerva.” She replied, taking the hand he offered and thinking that she hadn't felt this particular combination of nervous and pleased with herself in a very long time. 

**December 1992**

“ That is not a botched animagus transformation attempt Albus!” Minerva was fuming, half at him and half at the brilliant girl laying in an infirmary bed and lying to her. “ You know how I know that? Because she has lost some of her fur today, and to my surprise it revealed a perfectly formed human hand where a paw was the day before. I THOUGHT SHE WAS STUCK LIKE THAT! That I was going to have to solve a centuries old transfiguration problem to fix her!” 

“ I should think you'd be glad to see your favorite Gryffindor is returning to herself.” Albus replied, eyes not quite meeting hers as he leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands over his long beard. 

“ She is lying and you're letting her get away with it!” Minerva continued shouting, leaning her weight against where they rested on the edge of the headmaster's desk, refusing to quiet herself just to avoid looking hysterical. “ How is she supposed to learn not to reach for every dangling piece of knowledge if you never make her live with the consequences! How is she supposed to know when she should ask for help!” 

“ Spending at least half a month in a the hospital wing slowly healing and unable to attend classes is a fairly severe punishment for Miss Granger.” 

“ I am not so unobservant that I don't remember Severus grumbling about his lost bicorn horn and boomslang skin and what illegal substance it could be used to brew.” Minerva reminded him, feeling magic tingling and sparking in her fingertips, rising with her anger as it hadn't since her youth. “ Do you know what other potions are in the book she somehow convinced that Lockheart charlatan to give her access to? I went and had a look at it myself. It's full of dark magic, Albus. Are you not worried about a girl looking at a book like that and deciding to brew something from it?” 

“ Miss Granger has always been tempted to push her limits, and to learn. She's all the curiosity of Ravenclaw with the heart of a Gryffindor. That is a lovely thing to be. It's something I've often thought that the two of you had in common.” The headmaster responded, voice still damnedly even keeled and reasonable. “ Miss Granger's hardships won't end when we figure out how to close this chamber or stop the one responsible for mimicking it. She could have worse traits than supreme confidence and the skill that comes from pushing oneself.” 

Minerva felt her nostrils flaring and breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. She never won an argument with the man when she let herself get angry. The self-righteous old man seemed to take any show of emotion as him already winning and as soon as he got that twinkle in his eye Minerva really had lost because she couldn't stop herself from tearing into him for being smug. 

“ She is very like me at that age,” Minerva finally agreed, biting back bile as she remembered some of the ghastly things she'd attempted on her own out of sheer curiousity and desperation for change. She had been lucky that the things she'd attempted to do to her body on her own had been as reversible as Miss Granger's current feline predicament. “ Which is why I'm telling you that by not setting boundaries for her you are doing her a grave disservice. We are meant to keep them safe, and that includes from themselves, Albus. Her next mistake might not be so laughable.” 

There was silence between them for a long time then, the Headmaster's eyes never once leaving hers and somehow transferring an overwhelming sense of burden and guilt to Minerva that she wasn't sure what to do with. 

“ I can only hope that in this instance I am the one in the right, Minerva. Trust at least that I am doing what I think is right for her.” He finally whispered, waving her away towards the stairs. 

“ I must abide by your poor decisions, Albus.” She replied softly, still not breaking contact with his expressive face and hoping that her words hit home. “ I don't have to trust them.” 

**July 1995**

“ Minerva,” Albus greeted her before she could even fully exit the entrance stair. “ Thank you for coming to see me. I know that you were enjoying your time away from the castle.” 

She took her customary seat and reached for the cup of tea he had setting in front of her spot under a warming charm. It was made exactly to her preference, with enough honey it should have been too thick to drink, the comforting sweetness coating her mouth on the first sip. 

“ I was down in the village, Albus. Are you still insisting that you don't know I spend my free time with your brother?” 

“ I meant no offense, Minerva. I only wasn't sure if you and Aberforth had gone on holiday whilst you had the time off from the castle.” He reminded her, unable to completely hide the bitterness in his voice. “ As you know he and I are not close.” 

He was fishing, and he knew that she knew it. There was no way someone as manipulative and observant as Albus Dumbledore would mistake the way her eyes darted from her teacup to his face when he mentioned traveling. His office doodads were buzzing with a ferocity she had rarely encountered in the room and she couldn't quite be sure what their racket meant, but it was hard to imagine it being anything good. 

Minerva had seen it this way only once in the past decade, and it was the last time she'd been in the room, in the aftermath of the final task, when he had revealed to her what Harry had seen that night thanks to the scheming of young Bartemius Crouch.

The night she'd learned beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lord Voldemort had returned. 

“ I didn't feel right leaving the country.” She said finally, deciding on honesty.“ Not after what happened at the end of term. I did my duty before, though I might not have done it as you wished. I don't intend to shirk my responsibilities now.” 

“ Does that mean you intend to provide the same services to the ministry as you did last time?” The Headmaster asked. 

“ Now I'm far to old to be sneaking around as a cat spying this time, Albus.” She said warmly, a chuckle rising deep in her chest as she thought about how young she really was in comparison to him. He'd been older than she was now, when she'd first started working at Hogwarts, more than thirty years ago. Really she was middle aged for a witch. “ And I no longer trust the Ministry has our best interests at heart.” 

“ I had thought you might say that.” His smile as he replied was tinged with worry. 

“ Are they still threatening to fill the Defense position with a mole?” She asked, hoping she was wrong.

“ Oh, I think we've moved far past threatening at this point. I highly doubt that I will be able to prevent an appointment.” 

It was a horrible thought. Things never went well when the Ministry interfered at Hogwarts. Sending a teacher here was a step beyond. Bureaucrats who'd never taught a day in their lives making decisions about what should be happening in a classroom.

“ Is that why I'm here?” 

“ In a round about way. You are here because I wanted to ask you, as I did many years ago, to join the Order of the Phoenix in a stand against Tom Riddle.” 

Minerva was shocked by her employer's casual use of Lord Voldemort's name. As strongly as Albus seemed to feel about not letting the hopeful despot make his name something to fear, he rarely reminded people of the man's beginnings as just another half-blood Hogwarts student, a talented and handsome young man that everyone had thought was going places. She suspected it was because Albus had always known the man's final destination. 

“ I wish I didn't have to do this,” Minerva replied hesitantly. “ But I have no desire to see that bastard rise to power again. Yes, of course, I'll stand with you.” 

“ I had hoped that is what you'd say.” Albus said with a sharp clap of his hands, standing up from his seat excitedly. “ In that case. There are some things you should be made aware of. Someone is about to join us, and I would appreciate if you would not hex our guest as he is providing an excellent headquarters for the Order and has frankly suffered enough.” 

Albus said, before walking to the hidden door at the far side of the room that led to his private chambers and letting a large, shaggy black dog through into the office. It was one of the biggest hounds she'd ever seen and looked as though it hadn't been fed well enough. An interesting beast to be sure but it wasn't followed by it's owner and while Minerva appreciated it's manners as it came to greet her, wagging it's tail and not jumping on her or god-forbid licking her, she didn't see how it could be providing a headquarters. 

“ Albus, what is the meaning--” Minerva began to ask, breath suddenly catching in her throat as the dog transformed fluidly into a carefully groomed man who looked like he had recently been quite haggard and wasn't quite used to comfort. A man wearing the face of her most disappointing student, her biggest regret. 

“ Sirius Black.” She whispered, half not believing what she was seeing until she glanced at Albus and noticed the familiar twinkle in his eye as he slipped into his personal quarters, leaving her with the fugitive wizard. “ I assume you didn't actually betray the Potter's then.” 

  
“ Of course not, Professor. James was my brother, in all but name. Harry's my godson. I would have died before I'd have given him and Lily up.” 

The smile that crossed his face as he assured her was only a shade of the wicked grin Minerva remembered from his youth, sad now, and tinged with so much sadness she could hardly bear to look at him knowing that she'd believed he'd done it. 

“ I wondered.” She confessed, reaching out and placing a light hand over his as it picked up one of the Headmaster's odds and ends off the desk, fiddling with it nervously. “ When you escaped and Albus refused to speak about it. And Peter Pettigrew, were you responsible for his death.” 

“ Not yet,” He replied, voice raw with emotion. “ Merlin willing I will one day. He was the one who betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort.” 

Little Peter Pettigrew had betrayed James Potter. It was unthinkable. The way that boy had trailed after James, absolutely worshiped him. He'd followed James into the thick of the war and never looked back. Not even when it cost his parents their home. Not even when sweet Marlene McKinnon had died and she thought the young man would fall to pieces. It was impossible to imagine that boy turning coat, changing his mind. Unless he hadn't. Peter had always been the one spinning lies to keep her busy while his friends pulled another prank. 

Merlin, how had she ever thought it was Sirius Black who'd betrayed James? Was she still holding on to what he'd almost done to Severus? After all these years? He hadn't even been able to do it then. He'd confessed and James had saved the other boy. 

“ I've only got one more question then young man.” Minerva said suddenly, shaking off the reverie that she'd fallen into, staring at Sirius's fiddling hand and thinking about Peter Pettigrew. 

“ Of course, Professor.” 

“ You can call me Minerva, goodness knows it's been long enough since I was your teacher.” She said warmly, patting his hand and going back to her tea and hoping he couldn't see the lingering tremble his news had put in her fingers. “ How long have you been an animagus?” 

“ Since third year.” Sirius replied with a grin that finally reached his eyes. “ James and Peter too. I thought I'd never get the taste of mandrake out of my mouth.” 

“ Third year!” She exclaimed, a delighted cackle worming its way up from deep in her chest. “ God I must have be a better teacher than I thought if I got you three taught well enough that you didn't botch it. Let's see it again!” 

**June 1997**

“ Minnie you should set a password.” Aberforth said softly as he came up behind her where she stood in the big picture window, looking out over the grounds. “ I know you won't be confirmed until the new year, but even a deputy headmistress shouldn't have people wandering in and out of her office.”

He was right. She shouldn't leave the headmistress's office open to the public, but it was impossible to do anything to the room that felt like a change. Albus's presence still hung heavy in the room. Every place an overlapping rug clashed with the one below it, the bowl of tart muggle candies, the noise of his contraptions, still going even after their owner had shuffled off the mortal coil. All of it pressed in upon her and screamed that she didn't belong here. 

Minerva wasn't even sure she wanted to belong in this office. Sometimes it felt like she'd been working her entire life to make it hers. Other times she was convinced that whatever had made Albus what he was, outside of the dotty old man act, had started in this office, with the enormous responsibility it demanded. She had cared for Albus. She was grieving him, in her own, private way. 

That didn't mean she wanted to be him. 

“ They might not confirm me at all.” Minerva replied, her voice hollow even in her ears. 

“ You're a shoe in, Minnie.” Aberforth scoffed, his breath hot on her shoulder as he cuddled in against her. “ You've been deputy for over ten years. Who could deserve it more?”

“ It isn't about deserving, Ab.” She replied with a sigh, leaning back against his comforting bulk. “ Your brother dying is just another step forward for Voldemort. Next he'll take the ministry and then they'll install a traitor in this office.” 

Aberforth snorted, ruffling the loose curls at the nape of her neck. 

“ The castle didn't let that toady pink bitch in--” 

“ Language, Aberforth!” Minerva nearly shrieked, tamping down the irreverent laughter that bubbled in her chest. 

“ What makes you think it'll let in some muggle hating pile of dung.” He finished, never missing a beat. 

“ Because the castle didn't refuse to accept her on the basis of her being vile.” Minerva explained, remembering well Dolores's fury when she found the way to the office barred to her. “ It refused her because Dumbledore hadn't been properly removed and she wasn't appointed by the avowed board. Voldemort knows the school well enough to know how to make sure his appointment goes through. He's evil not incompetent.” 

“ Well, you won't know till you know.” Aberforth said after a moment, picking her up as easily as he did one of the large wine casks in his cellar and turning to deposit her on the wide mahogany desk. “ Let me take your mind off it.” 

“ This hardly seems appropriate.” Minerva whispered breathily as one of his large hands pulled her hips to the edge of the desk, her eyes darting to the portraits hanging on the wall, all of whom were suddenly and conspicuously absent except the most recently deceased, head still resting heavily on his chest. “ Your brother is hanging right there!”

“ He hasn't woken up yet, and even if he had, I say let him cover his eyes.” Aberforth replied as he dropped down, pushing her skirts up and revealing her knobbly knees and resting his bearded cheek on the soft flesh of her inner thigh. “ You know Last time I saw the bastard he told me to make an honest woman out of you.” 

“ Is that a proposal, Ab?” Minerva asked. 

She'd never felt so vulnerable in entire life as she did sitting on the hogwart's head's desk, legs splayed open around her lover and feeling the rush of his warm breath against her sex as he vanished her underwear with a mumbled spell. Minerva felt too old to be so scandalous, and yet still too bold to stop it from happening. 

“ I'm on one knee aren't I?” He whispered, pausing to let his tongue lave over the top of her in one soft, wet, stroke. Leaving her flesh swollen and her pulse racing as he asked. “ Are you saying yes?” 

“ Not yet.” She gasped as his tongue returned, driving her worry and her grief from her mind one languid lick at a time. 

October 1997

“ Severus.” Minerva said stiffly, refusing to accept the proffered chair in it's familiar spot.

“ Minerva.” He replied, not even bothering to look up from whatever papers he was working on. 

It was eerie. How different this man was from the headmaster she'd served for the last forty years. He avoided her completely, hiding behind the long sweep of his hair, just as he always had. He was like a black ink blot in the center of the room that still dripped Albus's colorful personality. He'd only made one change that she could easily identify. He'd silenced the machines.

“ Get it over with then.” She rushed him, desperate to be out of this room and back in her office, where she could hear if anything happened in her hallway. “ Whatever you have to say. I have followed this new sham of an administration to the letter. I don't see why we need to speak.” 

“ You know that I don't approve of the Carrow's presence any more than you, Minerva. I'm doing my best.”Severus snapped, the quill he held in his hand shuddering as he squeezed it almost tight enough to break. “ It would help me protect the students from their violent impulses if I had an ally amongst the staff.”

“ You'd be able to protect them better than that if you weren't a Death Eater.” Minerva replied harshly. She'd rarely wanted to hurt anyone the way she wanted to hurt this man, who she'd given her trust for years, almost more than she'd given it to the man he'd murdered. “ We both know you were never a blood purist. Why Severus?”

“ Do you really still believe that is true?” He said with a huff of breath that could almost have been a chuckle. “ Look at the ministry! He's got gangs roaming the countrysides! He took the school in two moves. I may not be able to protect the muggleborns but I can still protect the remaining students from the worst of it.” 

She didn't miss that he'd not used a slur when he could have. How genteel. A Death Eater too polite to say mudblood.

“ So that's it. You played both sides and then stuck with who looked like they were going to win. Slytherin to the core.” 

“ Essentially.” Severus drawls, his quill scrawling once more across the parchment in front of him. 

“ You disgust me.” Minerva hisses, unable to stop the words as the bubble up out of her throat. 

“ We have that in common then.” He replied so tonelessly that Minerva almost convinces her it's self-deprecating rather than an insulting jab. “ I called you here to inform you that I have given two of your charges detention with Hagrid for attempting to burgle me.” 

“ Burgle you?” Minerva questioned, not because she didn't believe it of her Gryffindors, but because she knew they were busy with more useful mischief. 

“ Yes. Miss Weasley and Mr. Longbottom attempted to procure a priceless Hogwarts artifact from it's rightful place in this office.” Severus explains, pointing at an empty plaque on the far wall. “ The sword of Gryffindor has since been relocated. You might encourage your students not to make such an attempt again. I will not be so lenient again.” 

“ I have little remaining control over my students, but I promise you I encourage them not to recklessly bring themselves to the attention of death eaters.”

For the first time since she'd come into the office, Severus set his quill aside. Steepling his fingers in front of him as he raised his dark eyes to meet her face. Minerva almost gasped at the sight of his face up close and unguarded for the first time in months. He was so thin. The dark shadows that always creased his face pronounced and new ones joining them to render his visage almost skeletal. 

“ You once sat just where you are now and convinced me that it is beneficial to be seen as useful by one's enemies. I would remind you of that lesson now. ” He said, voice thick with earnest pleading for just a moment, before he turned his attention back to his paperwork, voice toneless and cold once again. “ See yourself out, Minerva.” 

“ Rot in hell, Severus.” Minerva whispered as she turned to leave, not daring to look back at him for even a moment. 

**July 2008**

“ Headmaster McGona—Dumbledore?” A soft voice asked from the doorway, distracting Minerva from the stack of new student letters she was double checking before they headed out.

The voice belonged to the first applicant for the Transfiguration Professorship she'd opened up two years previous when she decided that the combined work of the office and her old classroom was wearing her thin. Draco Malfoy didn't seem to have changed much over the years. He was still pointy faced, and he still walked with the bearing of someone who was used to crowds parting for them, but there were hints of humility about him that she couldn't remember seeing before. The warmth in his smile, the simple oxford shirt rolled up at the sleeves, and the sweet little bouquet of thistles he handed her that had clearly been picked at the forest's edge on his way up. 

Minerva couldn't help but wonder if he found the office much changed from the last time he'd seen it, during Severus's troubled year of service, still kept like a tomb to the man Draco had almost murdered. She'd had plenty of time to make it her own. Slowly whittling down the noise making machines until it was just one, sat on a shelf opposite his portrait, the only one for which she'd never found a purpose. She replaced them with books and sentimental keepsakes. The colors of the room were now complimentary shades of green, blue, and black and the candy dish had been turned to a vase she stuffed full of sugar quills at every opportunity. 

“ It's just McGonagall, Mr. Malfoy.” She said, summoning her tea cart from the far wall. “ I thought that the Dumbledore name carried far too much burden for me to take it on myself now.” 

“ I understand that.” Draco replied with a chuckle as he took a seat across from her in the chair she'd once thought of as hers. “ I think I would have taken the Greengrass name myself if it wouldn't have broken my Mother's heart.” 

“ How is Narcissa?” Minerva asked, more out of politeness than interest. 

“ Fussing over Astoria. We have a baby due in December.” He announced proudly, chest puffing out just a little. 

“ I hope you don't mind me saying” Minerva prodded, worry entering her mind at the thought of a sickly child taking her new professor away so often she still had to teach on top of everything else. “ That just before the birth of your first child seems like an odd time to take on a position at a boarding school.”

“ I did hope that you would grant me dispensation to live at home and floo into work.” Draco admitted, crossing his legs and leaning comfortably back in the chair as though he weren't negotiating his future employment. “ I would still be available to patrol two evenings a week of course, they just can't interfere with my counseling appointments. They are important to me.” 

Minerva could hardly believe that he was still attending those appointments. They had only been required of him for the first five years after his pardon, mostly intended to make sure he didn't fall immediately back into blood purist circles or other forms of bigotry in the shock of his newly lost privilege. 

“ That shouldn't be a problem.” She assured him, already quickly sorting the schedule in her mind as she spoke. “ Professor Babbling has been flooing in for almost twenty years. I have to say I was surprised that you came in for this position instead of for Horace's. He is also leaving the potions professorship open.” 

“ Severus indulged me.” Draco replied, one eyebrow arching in an uncanny impression of the man who's portrait hung just to his right, currently wearing the same half-bemused expression “ I'm not a terrible potioneer but I don't have the discipline for mastery. I don't like to get dirty and I actually like all the foolish wandwaving.” 

Minerva had to bite back a giggle at that. He did seem to have a penchant for that as a child. Even his broom skills had been flamboyant. Draco Malfoy had a flair for the dramatic. 

“ Your a newly minted master, correct? Yes it says right here you worked with Lamodifique at Beauxbatons. She's an excellent transfigurationist you are lucky to have had her as your teacher.” 

“ That is something I have often been very lucky in.” Draco said sincerely, grey eyes meeting hers meaningfully and sending a shot of memory through Minerva of other beloved students with eyes like that. The same color as Sirius's had been, mournful like Remus and Severus. 

What was it Miss Tonks had said all those years ago, about not being able to resist a man with sad eyes?

“ Well, I think you'd be a good fit here, Mr. Malfoy.” Minerva said, burying the sentiment that rose up and threatened to choke her with tears “ I know you've never been friendly with Harry or Neville but they are both working here now so you won't be the only young one on staff.” 

“ I'm actually friendly enough with both of them now.” Draco assured. “ We aren't close but making amends to them has been part of my restitution.” 

“ Speaking of that, you do know that these positions don't pay terribly well?” 

“ I do know that the professors here are criminally undervalued. I'm not concerned. Astoria's inheritance keeps us comfortable. I consider myself very lucky to be able to choose my work without thinking too much about the compensation. My children won't grow up as indulgently as I did, but I have begun to think that might be a good thing.” 

“ I have to agree.” Minerva said, returning his smile and looking at her sheet of questions, surprised at how quickly she'd gone through the interview. “ I have one final request of you.” 

“ Yes?” Draco asked, his face suddenly clouding over with worry, like she might bring up things he wasn't yet ready to discuss with her. 

“ Let's see your mastery project.” Minerva said excitedly, standing up from her seat and secretly looking forward to seeing him transform. 

He laughed, the sound echoing back loudly from the stone walls. 

“ I'm surprised you hadn't already noticed.” He replied, thrusting forward his left arm and drawing attention to the pale, blank flesh, where the dark mark had once resided. “ I transmuted it cell by cell. I invented the process to help heal the curse on Grange—Hermione's arm.” 

“ It's flawless, Draco.” Minerva said, in awe once again at the sheer magic of the subject she'd spent her life pursuing. “ A work of art.” 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic kind of got away from me (that's what I get for trying to be a pantser!) and went from a little almost drabble to a pretty beefy one shot that I cranked out in two days. It hasn't been beta'd so please be kind. Actually be kind anyway, because that's a better way to be. 
> 
> Charlie, I hope you enjoy this! I somehow didn't even register the prompt was yours before I was like halfway done so you get two gifts from me this month, lol. I know there isn't much in the way of . . . plot. . .but there's a lot there in the musing about what change is and what the duty of educators really is to their charges? All very interesting I know ;)
> 
> #TeamEros #LF2020


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